Time to outlaw cousin marriages?

[mrsruffallo]

Interesting article here
Would you support it being made illegal?

I live in Norfolk and in one local village in the past people were paid to move there to increase the gene pool, I'm only going back to the 40's or so.

I guess, like lots of threads on aibu, it boils down to the rights of the parents vs the rights of the child.

I know which side i'm on.

4, you've heard of N for N have you?

am I going to be ashamed of posting this

think I probably am

but disclaimer: I think it's awful

thumbwitch, to summarise that study fairly you should really also have highlighted other health* indicators may be affected by consanguineous marriages

Goblin's right -- pretending there isn't a problem is not a solution.

n for n???????

oh gawd I am going to have to get my coat

normal for norfolk

doctors' notes terminology

There's a big middle ground between a birth defect and having a genetic syndrome or having health problems caused by 2 recessive genes or low iq or something along those lines.

oh ! thanks for explanation!

I meant that there is a big middle ground between having a birth defect and being completely healthy.

"I guess, like lots of threads on aibu, it boils down to the rights of the parents vs the rights of the child. "

The rights of adults to marry/have sex with whoever they want, versus the rights of a child to be born without any defects?

How does this apply to older mothers, or non-related couples who may be carriers of genetic defects? I wonder how this would be policed... should all couples have genetic counselling before being given licence to have children I wonder? Should mothers be forced to take action if ante-natal screening shows a problem with their foetus?

It's common sense to try and marry outside your own family. I think if somebody, one person in a blue moon happens to fall in love with their cousin and that family has a long history of diverse gene pools, then it's going to be ok! but if society accepts that people are sometimes encouraged to marry their cousins, then that's a recipe for disaster.

A mixed race child (black white) wont have cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anaemia and although that's a very dramatic example it does support the theory that the wider the gene pool the healthier the child is going to be. (generally)

I have seen first hands children of a marriage of first cousins - there is something really reather sad about all the health problems they have and it is due to thegenetics of there parentage being to close this was though caucasian and just first cousins not interbreeding from other generations which is common in some areas and casues horrific medical problems for some of the chidlren

You can't help who you fall in love with but to arrange this for two people is rather sad of adults who perhaps don't realise the dangers they are playing with.

I never wanted to mention this but only one of the children fathered by Josef Fritzl had genetic problems. Surely the risks of having these was much higher than for first cousins? (Grabs coat!)

Too right Riven - very dodgy ground.

true electrofagz, and one had already died and Elizabeth had a lot of miscarriages as well.

I thought several of Frizels grand/children were still born ?

It may be dodgy ground but it needs to approached from an informed, educated point of view.

Why would anyone do anything which could potentially cause suffering. on a sliding scale of daftness producing children with a first cousin is asking for trouble. Therefore it makes sense to discourage it especially when it's being done to keep bloodlines "pure" which is what these communities are attempting to do.

But surely the miscarriages/still births (which could have been unrelated to the fact that he was her father) provide support to the self-sorting pov and therefore suggest that legislation would be useless & education alone would be useful?

It's just madness to LOOK AMONGST your cousins for a marriage partner. But that is what happens in some communities. I woulddn't need to be criminalised if people had the sense to look further afield on behalf of their children.

There was more than one affected fritzl child. One died at about 12, one is seriously ill now, and there were a few miscarriages and stillbirths. Definitely significant.

I think this conversation is being misdirected into the right of a disabled child to be born.

Big difference between improved education and giving hypothetical children rights though Alouiseg.

I think with first couisins the gene pool is too closely connected. Particularly in my family - my Mum's sister married my Dad's brother.....